CD2's Top Ten Favorite Songs...of All-Time

I have grown tired of islands. Say, Earth has been invaded and conquered by an alien species from the planet Raycrion-7 in a galaxy far away. Since we are conquered, we are their prisoners and they confine us our homes. We are to never leave our homes, indefinitely. But no. You decided to be hard-headed and leave the confines of your home. A Raycrionian on patrol spots you and you are detained in a "jail." Luckily for you and the entire human race, the Raycrionians are a merciful species who love the challenge of conquering other civilizations with minimum violence, so long as the civilization cooperates. Since the Raycrionians are so nice, they allow you to have cable television, one stereo, and they further punish you by allowing you to only have one music CD you can listen to for the rest of your life. You are allowed to have up to 15 tracks on that CD. Which tracks are you selecting?

It was initially supposed to be 10, but it was impossible to have only ten. I was afraid 15 songs would dilute the list, but it actually came out perfect at 15. This is a list of 15 songs I would roll with for the rest of my life if I could only listen to 15 songs. Essentially, this is my ultimate playlist or life soundtrack, if you will. This is not necessarily the best songs I've ever heard. Plenty of my favorite artists don't have songs on this playlist, but here it goes...

Fifteen

Blackstreet - Happy Song - Another Level (1996)

Music is in tune with my emotional state. They both kind of feed off of each other. In this case, however, Happy Song by Blackstreet takes over my emotional state. No matter how I'm feeling, this song puts me at ease with everything in life. When I'm feeling high (not in a drug sense, obviously), this song brings me down a little bit. Conversely, when I'm feeling low, it raises me up. It brings me to a middle ground where I'm calm and I can't do anything but be happy and just appreciate life for what it is while I'm here, which  has not always been the easiest thing for me to do...

Fourteen

Carl Thomas - Let Me Know - Let's Talk About It (2004)

If you love me let me know/or let me go


I had the misfortune in being in the terrible situation in which a female could not make up her mind as to what exactly we were going to be. I honestly did not care what exactly she wanted, but that she wanted something so I can move on. If she didn't want to see or speak to me ever again, so be it. If she wanted us to run away together, so be it. If she wanted us to start a patio furniture business, so be it. If she wanted to be friends, so be it. I may not have agreed to do any of the aforementioned, but at least I know where she is coming from. In Let Me Know, Thomas is referring to this exactly. We just need to know either way, if you want us for something or nothing at all so we can move on with our lives. This song has a dramatic feel to it similar to Emotional from his first album, titled just that.

Thirteen

Eminem - 'Til I Collapse ft. Nate Dogg - The Eminem Show (2002)

Ha! This reminds me of senior year when The Eminem Show came out. That whole summer after graduation, this album played every single day. My favorite song from the album is 'Til I Collapse featuring the apparent late Nate Dogg (I honestly did not know he passed until well after the fact). From the opening speech Eminem gives before to goes off still gives me goosebumps nearly ten years later. When working out, it's guaranteed to be played at least once on my mp3 player (no, I don't have an iPod). If I'm in my car, it must be played at max volume.

Twelve

Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want - Everything You Want (1999)

This is the song that coincided with my insomnia reign in mid-high school. From my freshman through sophomore year, I had problems going to sleep at night. I would go to sleep normally, but inexplicably awaken at 2am and could not go back to sleep. During most of this time, I gave up trying to go back to sleep and turned the television on. It was then I ran into Insomniac Music Videos on VH1 and this bald headed guy singing this song. I hardly listened to rock that much at that point of my life outside of the The Red Hot Chili Peppers, but this song stuck to me. I later realized that this song tells part of the story of my life. Even after over ten years later, I still listen to this song often, as it still is telling part of the story of my life.

Eleven

Lupe Fiasco - The Coolest - The Cool (2008)

I love this song. Lord please have sympathy/and forgive my cool young history,as/The Coolest n***a... This is one of those songs I recite passionately whenever I listen to it. It has sort of an empowering vibe to it as we are telling the lord to forgive our cool young history.

Ten

Common ft. Kanye West and Last Poets - The Corner - Be (2005)

The production is sick. The way Kanye added that popping fire sound in the backdrop is killer. It basically sets the tone of song. It has that kind of rugged, street edge to it that vividly takes me to The Corner. When I hear this song, rather than the holy ghost, I get the street ghost that runs through me. I just want to throw the hood on my hoodie on and just become one with the flow and the streets. I love it.

Nine

Maroon 5 - She Will Be Loved - Songs About Jane (2002!)

I can't believe this album was released in '02. It was one of those late bloomers. It blew up to the point that it actually delayed the group in finally releasing its follow up album, It Won't Be Soon Before Long in 2007, which is also great. I was working in West LA at the time and heard it in the office on the radio. It had such a hold on me that I had to ask one of my co-workers the name of the song I just heard. I merely heard about 20 or 30 seconds of it and knew I loved it (a la what Malcolm Gladwell postulates in his book, Blink). My co-worker told me and the rest is just about history. Not too long after, I was at a friend's house kickin' it, his girlfriend was there too. They were playing random songs on the computer and this played. I got excited and told them, "y'all know about this song?!" They snapped back at me. They went on to tell me about the whole album being good too. Such a great song, and the song that started my Maroon 5 following.

Eight

Janet Jackson - Anytime, Any Place - Janet (1993)

I honest can't listen to this song. It's really not that hard to seduce me. One way is to supply me with plenty of drinks. Nope, not alcohol, but water! Get me to drink tons of water and you got me. The other way is by simply playing Anytime, Any Place. I really cannot control myself a whole lot when I hear this song. Just Janet's voice and the sounds of the wind and thunder in the back ground...ok I'm going to stop typing about it now...

Seven

Jay-Z - December 4th - The Black Album (2003)

This is the song that essentially explains the life of both Shawn Carter and Jay-Z. What I love about it is that he tells you his life, but at the same time he tells you, "it's nobody's fault, I made the decisions I made/this is the life I chose rather than that life that chose me/and if you can't respect that, your whole perspective is wack..." I especially like those Jay-Z tracks when he's coming directly from the heart (such as Song Cry or Lost One). I also empathize with him for all the things he's been through and how that stays with you throughout life no matter how far your take yourself.

Six

Sade - Every Word - Lover's Rock (2000)

God I love her. When asked about her and the band's 11 year layoff after releasing Soldier of Love 2010, she simply said, "I only want to make music when I have something to say." Gosh. I often get upset when artist take too long between releases. However, Sade changed that. She actually makes that more respectable and only makes her music that much more richer. Lover's Rock is one of the very few albums that I can just pop in and chill. It's just a smooth listen. But my favorite is Every Word. "You treated me like a stranger/and all the time I was loving you. All of your slick moves/they were once innocent moves..." Like a song I'm going to mention a little later, I must have played this over and over again an embarrassing number of times after I first heard it. Perhaps due to my life experiences, I always gravitate towards songs that give off a vibe of despair. A little dark, I know, but it's my life.

Five -

John Mayer - Assassin - Battle Studies (2009)

I really don't need to go into this. I profiled this song in my "A Song in Review" blog entry (See here). Nonetheless, this song has that dark edge I like. It is also close to home at this stage in my life.

Four

Shai - Comforter - If I Ever Fall in Love (1992)

I've had this song apply to my situation once already. I mean word for freakin' word. I have to weird attractions to women. First, I like tall women. Doesn't make sense given I'm no taller than 5-10. Second, I like women that are already taken. It's weird. It's not like I know they are taken when I fall for them (Carl Thomas' I Wish is actually a true story for me too...like forreal though...). However, I always end up in these situations, and when I play this song it just owns my heart, word for word.

Three

Alicia Keys - Diary - The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003)

I love the piano, and she goes to work on the piano in this one. I love the pace and tone of it all, especially how it doesn't really drop or rises the whole song. When I first heard this right after freshman year of college, I could not stop listening to it. It was probably unhealthy on some level. It was played on nightly basis as I wound down to prepare for sleep or relaxation.

One-B

John Legend - Maxine's Interlude/Another Again - Once Again (2006)

Man. I love how sometimes John Legend sort of has that hard sort of subtle hip-hop sound mixed with smooth R&B. Another Again is the embodiment of that sound. It's almost out of place. It sounds like it should have been on his first album, Get Lifted. It has that indefinite despair quality I gravitate to. If you've ever been in an Another Again situation, the words are just killer and are so right on. It's just literally my favorite non-hip-hop song of all time.

(About Maxine's Interlude, I cannot listen to Another Again without listening to it because it sets the mood for Another Again. It's sort of like an introduction.)

One-A

The Roots ft. Common - Act Too (Love of My Life) - Things Fall Apart (1999)

My favorite hip-hop song of all time. This song was recorded when I was in the 7th or 8th grade (I am 26 now), and I still listen to this song religiously. In fact, I just listened to it on my mp3 player while studying and in my car on my way back from studying. It's just a perfect song lyrically and production-wise. It has a jazzy hip-hop feel to it with Tariq and Common delivering the perfect flow for it. It is also beautifully crafted as a love letter to hip-hip using a woman as a metaphor for hip-hop.

(I switched the last two from number 1 to number 2 so many times that I just decided to make them 1A and 1B...)

This was not easy. Can you come up with your 15-song ultimate playlist?